A “bus” is a collection of signals interconnecting two or more electrical devices that permits one device to transmit information to one or more other devices. There are many different types of buses used in computers and computer-related products. Examples include the Peripheral Component Interconnect (“PCI”) bus, the Industry Standard Architecture (“ISA”) bus and the Universal Serial Bus (“USB”), to name a few. Bus operation is usually defined by a standard that specifies various concerns such as the electrical characteristics of the bus, how data is to be transmitted over the bus, how requests for data are acknowledged, and the like. Using a bus to perform an activity, such as transmitting data, requesting data, etc., is generally called running a “cycle.” Standardizing a bus protocol helps to ensure effective communication between devices connected to the bus, even if such devices are made by different manufacturers. Any company wishing to make and sell a device to be used on a particular bus, provides that device with an interface unique to the bus to which the device will connect. Designing a device to particular bus standard ensures that device will be able to communicate properly with all other devices connected to the same bus, even if such other devices are made by different manufacturers.
Thus, for example, an internal fax/modem (i.e., internal to a personal computer) designed for operation on a PCI bus will be able to transmit and receive data to and from other devices on the PCI bus, even if each device on the PCI bus is made by a different manufacturer.
Problems occur when devices located on buses or networks using different low-level protocols are made to communicate with each other. One example involves two very popular standards, the IEEE 1394 family of serial bus protocols, and the IEEE 802.3 family of Ethernet network protocols. Despite the fact that there are versions of both protocols that use the same cables and connectors, and both support the higher level “Internet Protocol” (IP), devices implementing the Ethernet-compliant network interface are unable to communicate with devices implementing the 1394-compliant bus interface because of the differences existing between the respective protocols. Because of the large number of existing devices that use one protocol or the other, this communication gap is likely to widen as standards are developed in the two protocols. Thus, there is a heartfelt need for a solution that bridges the communication gap between protocols and effectively allows devices to communicate with each other across different bus or networking architectures.